Mariners, Yankees Make Their Pitch

CLEVELAND —  As the New York Yankees rolled through the 1996 postseason, ultimately winning the World Series, right fielder Paul O’Neill found it tough to keep pace.

A hamstring strain contributed to a limp batting average of .184. He hit only one home run and drove in only two runs in 38 at bats.

“I couldn’t even run to first base,” O’Neill said Saturday night. “I’m a different player now.”

Indeed.

O’Neill continued to provide postseason voltage as the Yankees defeated the Cleveland Indians, 6-1, and deflated a record Jacobs Field crowd of 45,274. O’Neill slugged a grand slam and had an RBI single, powering New York to a 2-1 lead in the American League’s best-of-five divisional series.

Dwight Gooden can eliminate the Indians when he faces Orel Hershiser tonight.

“I have to guard against being too pumped,” said Gooden, starting in place of the injured David Cone. “I want to go out and have fun. I feel like I’m ready.”

Left-hander David Wells had fun in Game 3. Wells, who marches to the beat of the heavy metal he blasts on the clubhouse stereo before pitching, calls himself “the black sheep of baseball.” He sheared off the Cleveland bats with a five-hitter.

“David is a colorful character,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said, “but I’m not interested in people conforming to what I think they should be.

“My only concern is that he’s prepared to pitch and he doesn’t try to overthrow.”

In becoming the first Yankee to pitch a complete game in the postseason since Rudy May defeated Kansas City in 1980, Wells relied on a biting fastball that produced 17 outs on pop ups or fly balls. He walked none, struck out one (the last batter of the game), got marvelous defensive help from third baseman Charlie Hayes and improved to 4-0 in the postseason--no surprise, perhaps.

“This is party time,” Wells said. “A fight for survival. Time to get down and dirty.”

The question was: Would Wells be asked to join this party?

He was 16-10 in the regular season but had a five-game losing streak in late August and early September. He came back to win his last two starts, but was openly annoyed when Torre hesitated naming him to the playoff rotation and then only as the No. 3 starter.

In the aftermath of his win Saturday, Wells said he realized he was being selfish and needed to accept what was best for the team, but he added:

“I took the negative crap that was fed me in the last week and built on it. I love the pressure. Glory or dog. I’m not afraid to fail.”

Maybe Cleveland starter Charles Nagy was.

The 15-game winner was pounded in three regular-season starts by the Yankees and pitched hesitantly, with six walks in 3 2/3 innings--five of the walks turning into runs.

Said Manager Mike Hargrove: “Charles is successful when he keeps the ball down and goes after hitters, but it looked like he was picking. You can’t get good hitters out pitching behind.”

A leadoff walk in the first led to a run on O’Neill’s single. Tino Martinez singled in a run after a leadoff walk in the third. Three walks (one intentional) loaded the bases in the fourth. Chad Ogea replaced Nagy, and O’Neill ripped a full-count hanging changeup over the center-field fence.

Ogea rebounded to retire the next 13 Yankees in order and gave up only one more hit, but the damage was fatal.

“I knew he didn’t want to walk me, but I didn’t want to swing at his pitch,” O’Neill said. “He made a mistake and got it up. I couldn’t tell you what it was.”

Said Torre: “He’s our best hitter, and it’s nice to see him up with the bases loaded because they have no place to put him. The thing I’m happy about for Paul and for us is that he’s healthy this postseason.”

The five RBIs were the most by a Yankee in a postseason game since Thurman Munson had five in Game 5 of the 1978 World Series against the Dodgers.

O’Neill had a career high 117 RBIs during the season and now has six in three postseason games with two home runs and five hits in 12 at-bats.

“I didn’t do as well as I would have liked to last year, but it couldn’t have ended in a better way,” O’Neill said. “I mean, it’s fun to have a game like this and I hope my [two kids] stayed up to watch it, but the only thing that matters now is winning.”